Evander Holyfield vs Vitali Klitschko

If Holyield fights as good as he did in the second with Bowe and Lewis, he should have enough to outpoint Vitali.

A combination of lateral movement, a snapping jab and solid combinations to earn respect. Not to mention slipping the pawing jab to get off body shots.

Holy can win this fight but he needs to be on top form. He could just as easily be reckless in which case Vitali times the hell out of him.

My pick is Holy UD.

 

the holyfield that fought douglas, before he declined for the first bowe fight?

holyfield ko

 

Holy does well to start with, but Vitali grinds him down like everybody else and the latter part of the fight is all Vits. Holyfield doesn't have the power to get Vitali's respect, and he doesn't have the defence to make him miss. I think his heart might carry him to the end but the much bigger, and more accurate man turns his face into mincemeat.

 

Hol

Holy doesnt have the defence?
Vitali more accurate than Holy?
Holy odesnt have the power?

wtf.

 

Vitali on points.

Neither has the power to likely stop the other as both have iron cast chins. Vitali will box and counter Holyfield he won't be a sitting target, he'll constantly be moving laterally and turning Evander. His size, movement and the range this creates will give Evander problems.

Even when Holyfield does get inside he'll get clinched a lot of the time, Vitali has shown he is adept at that, he didn't need Steward to teach him to clinch like Wlad did. Also a big issue will be work rate. Holyfield even in his prime usually threw about 40 punches a round, Vitali throws about 70 punches a round. Holyfield will get out worked in many rounds.

It will be competitive but the boxing skills of Vitali will be too much for even prime Holyfield. Remember Vitali outboxed Lewis, that's how good Vitali is from a distance, that pawing jab from a 6'7" man was too much for a super heavy like Lewis who was forced to try and out brawl Vitali. Evander would have a much harder time getting inside and doesn't have the size or strength that Lewis did to push Vitali back and make room for his shots.

 

Holyfield did get hit a lot, he has a habit of going to war and that leaves him open, it's not that he lacked defence he just sometimes abandoned it.

I agree Holyfield is more accurate, he was a very precise puncher even when throwing in combination.

Holyfield has decent pop but he isn't going to stop Vitali. Only people who have ever hurt Vitali are Lewis and Sanders who caught him flush with big shots. Evander is nowhere on their level in terms of power, especially during his prime when he was lighter.

 

Since when is Holyfield particularly hard to land on? I guess you never saw Czyz make Holy miss over and over.

 

Disagree with your third paragraph mate. Vitali was less effective at neutralising up close than Wlad. His extra height makes his attempts at clinching a little bit more clumsy, but more than that he fought with his heart more often than not and tried punching his way out of a close quarters battle.

I don't think he'd be clinching successfully against Holy. I think he'd be trying to keep him at range and when Holy got in he'd be throwing uppercuts rather than clinches. His lack of leverage up close will cost him these battles.

As for the strength pushing back, of Holy can time the jab and get off to the body he can keep Vitali off balance.

It's a very close fight imo.

 

I like Holy as much as the next guy, but his lack of size would cost him here. Vitali's mastery of space was second to no heavyweight that I have seen. We're looking at a battle of the jabs here, and while Holyfield could do just about everything well, he couldn't stretch his body taller nor make his arms longer. Folks have a bit of the touch of the rose-tinted glasses here I am afraid.

I agree with you that Holyfield's best chances would be up close, but I guess we differ in opinion as to how easy it would be to impose a close quarters battle on big Klitschko.

 

In the rematches with Bowe and Lewis he was able to close to gap.

I've got not rose tints, I'd be backing Vitali to score the upset.

I just have doubts as to his ability to keep Vander at range.

 

Would have been a good - maybe great - fight regardless. Vits could have fought Holyfield, but didn't, and rightly so. I would have given Vitali / Wlad NO credit for beating Holyfield's corpse at that time.

 

I always felt Jones should have gone for the Holy fight back then.

It's hard to gauge it because I thought he won the trilogy against Ruiz and he looked good against Rahman. But Byrd and Toney made him look shot to **** and the farce against Donald is absolutely meaningless.

 

Holyfield UD.

 

Rahman was a strange sort of boxer. When he was firing on all cylinders he was a scary proposition for any fighter. Other limes he looked like he just didn't care.